Happy New Year

Wisshing you a happy, healthy and "pregnant" New Year

Happy Holidays

Wishing all our readers a happy Holiday Season. May all your wishes come true

Buyer Beware!

Some couples undergoing gestational surrogacy (GC) are going to India in an attempt to save money, making the surrogacy business in India a $445 million a year business. Recently, a Canadian couple who underwent DNA testing as part of the adoption of twins they assumed were their offspring discovered that they had no genetic link to the infants born to a surrogate in India!!!!

Unfortunately true, not just in Texas!

one in four women who are overweight think they are slim:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8150939/Many-fat-women-think-they-are-slim-research.html

Photos of fetal development

A nice slideshow about the fetal development until birth

http://www.webmd.com/baby/slideshow-fetal-development

Happy Thanksgiving

‎20 Tips to Curb Sugar Craving and Kick the addiction:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-frank-lipman/sugar-addiction_b_783203.html#s183041

Why the Health of Pregnant (and soon to be pregnant) women matters to us all

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111202783.html

Pain killers and Future Male Infertility?

A new study published online in the Journal Human Reproduction from Denmark and Finland showed a higher chance of having undescended testicles (which leads to a higher chance of male infertility) in the sons of women who took pain killers during pregnancy (see the link in my newsletter at

http://www.healthbanks.com/PatientPortal/MyPractice.aspx?UAID={A03416B1-1368-44A8-8636-06329078EA5A}&TabID={X}&ArticleID=645787 ).

I think the study is fairly weak and more data is definitely needed to find out if there is an association. That said, I always tell my patients to avoid taking any medication if they can avoid it.

Sins of the Grandfathers

A superb article appeared in the November 8 issue of Newsweek regarding the effects of our lifestyle and diet on epigenetics and their ultimtae effect on future generations entitled "Sins of the Grandfathers, how early=life experiences could cause permanent changes in sperm and eggs": http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/30/how-your-experiences-change-your-sperm-and-eggs.html

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a happy (and Scary) Halloween

"I can eat Manhattan"

One of our pregnant patients said, when asked how she is doing, "I can eat Manhattan!". That is probably one of the funniest comments I have ever heard from a pregnant person.
Bon appetit.

Denver

The ASRM meeting was great and we presented 2 research studies. It was cold and windy and I am happy to be back to such a beautiful weather (no matter how short that may be)!

ASRM Meeting

I am off to the ASRM meeting in Denver. I am presenting 2 abstracts on Tuesday. Hopefully some exciting new advances will also be presented that will be of help to our patients. I will not have much time to visit the city but will try.

CFC's Party

The party was a huge success and the vast majority of the children/babies present were VCRM's successes. The children played in a moon bounce and had a lot to eat. the parents all had a marvelous time. Many of the surrogates were also present and played with the children they helped bring into the world.
Our thanks go to the host who was fantastic and shared his twins' joy at having so many people around.

Here are some photos (courtesy of Ruthi David)

Party Time!

Today is Creative Family Connections (CFC) 2rd annual party. Over the past 6 years, VCRM has been instrumental in increasing the success of CFC's clients, and hence the number of babies expected to be present today. I will post some photos later.
Congratulations to CFC and all its clients!

2010 Best of Reston Award

For the third year in a row, VCRM has received the "2010 Best of Reston" Award in the "Physicians and Surgeons Category by the US Local Business Association (USLBA). Nationwide, < 1% qualified as Three-Time award winners. The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

NoVA Top Doctor

Dr Sharara was named one of Northern Virginia's Top Doctors by Northern VA Magazine. The Top Docs issue will be out in February 2011 which includes Top Docs in Northern Virginia and the district. In an unprecendeted move, the magazine not only asked local doctors to nominate their peers but asked the hospitals in the area to also rank the top docs regarding internal evaluations, patient reviews, and overall quality of care.

Laptop users beware

One of the worst things guys can do is put their laptops on their laps because of the association with worse sperm parameters. Today a new article shows the terrible damage inflicted on the skin, enough to "toast" the skin of the thighs:
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317532/Laptop-heat-toast-skin-thighs.html?ITO=1490

Finally!

It was announced today that the father of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Robert Edwards received the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine. Dr Edwards was responsible for the first IVF birth in the world (Louise Brown) in 1978. Since then, more than 4 million births are due to the use of IVf and related techniques. Currently, about 1% of all births in the US and over 2% of births in Scandinavia are due to IVF. We are thrilled that dr Edwards finally received his due recognition (he is 86).

CAP Inspection

We had our College of American pathology (CAP) inspection for our Embryology, Endocrinology, and Andrology laboratories on September 25th and passed with no deficiencies. This is another proof of our continued committment to Excellence. It is no wonder why we were chosen as a Center of Excellence by UnitedHealthcare in the spring.

Facebook

You can also follow us on Facebook (under Virginia Center for Reproductive Medicine) and post your comments (only nice ones please :))

Welcome

VCRM has now an official blog. I will try to post at least few comments during the week. I hope this will be another forum to stay in touch with patients.